"I observed the tightrope 'dancer'óbecause you couldn't call him a 'walker'approximately halfway between the two towers. And upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started going into a dancing routine on the high wire... And when he got to the building we asked him to get off the high wire but instead he turned around and ran back out into the middle... He was bouncing up and down. His feet were actually leaving the wire and then he would resettle back on the wire again."

— Sgt. Daniels, Port Authority Police Department

Man on Wire is a Documentary by James Marsh released in 2008. It depicts the planning and execution of the historic 1974 Twin Tower tightrope walk.

On August 7, 1974, at 7:15 a.m., French tightrope artist Philippe Petit, having hung a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center, proceeded to walk on itówith no harness nor any form of security. For 45 minutes, while a crowd of incredulous onlookers watched, Petit walked a total of eight times from one tower to the other. He also ran, jumped, sat and lay down on the wire to watch the sky. Then he gave himself in to the police.

Using archival footage, reenactments and interviews, the film deliberately uses the narrative methods of a heist movie, since the preparations had to be conducted illegally by a small team and a great attention to detail was required.

Don't Look Down: Intentionally averted; Petit explicitly looks down when on the wire, since it's a once-in-a-lifetime view.

Eiffel Tower Effect: Justified, since Petit uses famous architectural landmarks to pull his tightrope walking stunts. Apart from Notre-Dame in Paris and the World Trade Center, he also used Sydney Harbour Bridge, in sight of the Opera House.

Failed a Spot Check / The Guards Must Be Crazy: Several times Petit and co. risk being caught by the police, but the cops tend to do a pretty bad job of surveillance. Two of them park for hours in the rooms where the gang are hiding, but don't bother to look under the tarps where they are hidden. One comes onto the roof while they're setting up the tightrope and is fooled by the classic gag of "circle around a pillar on the opposite side of him". Petit even almost runs into him, but the cop didn't notice because his back is turned!

Heroic BSOD: Petit's courage falters him the first time they sneak into the tower, as the height seems too much for him. He gets around it, though, by renting a helicopter to fly above the tower, so he can get himself used to a height even taller than the one he'd be crossing.

In Harm's Way: Petit enjoys putting himself in life-threatening situations for the sheer thrill of it. "If I die, what a beautiful death!"

Karma Houdini: After the walk Petit was arrested and charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace. However, the district attorney made him a deal that all the charges against him would be dropped if he acts for free in a wire-walk show for kids in Central Park. After Petit got a lifetime pass to the observation deck of the Twin Towers, letting him visit there whenever he wanted.

Magnetic Hero: Downplayed by Petit; his accomplices who weren't his friends beforehand are all drawn to his charisma and vision. Ultimately subverted and deconstructed—several of them only wanted the thrill of helping and abandon the plan when things get hairy. The stunt ultimately costs him his friends and girlfriend.

"Mister Sandman" Sequence: The reconstitution of August 6, 1974, begins on a close-up of a black-and-white TV which shows a press conference by Richard Nixon speaking his iconic "I am not a crook" line.

Obfuscating Disability: After accidentally injuring his foot, Petit realizes that a man in crutches doesn't arise suspicion, and after his injury has healed he keeps walking in crutches for some time in order to fool security.

Oh, Crap: One of Petit's friends is noticeably chilled when they first come onto the tower roof, and realize just how windy it is up there.

Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Believe it or not, but when Petit walked between the towers, his team forgot to turn on the cameras, so that only still pictures of the feat exist.

TV Tropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy